


Professionals

by thepistachioman



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 20:51:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11585964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepistachioman/pseuds/thepistachioman
Summary: One-shot. The Wardens really aren't that good at fighting darkspawn (yet).(pretty much one long fight scene)





	Professionals

The hurlock shrieked as Lena Mahariel rammed her shield into its back. It stumbled, fell, and she brought her sword down in a vicious blow to silence it before it alerted the rest of the force.

They were just outside a hamlet a short way north of Lothering- or at least, that was what her map said. The darkspawn had co-opted the few buildings as a rudimentary fort and hung pieces of the hamlet's former inhabitants on hooks along the road, a grisly warning of what Ferelden faced. 

The hamlet was small, only three houses and a little barn. The darkspawn here were a vanguard of the Blight, sent to destroy resistance and raid settlements ahead of the horde rolling up the Highway from the south. They weren't a large force- or so Lena had been led to believe, based on the tracks on the road up- but even a token force of darkspawn was enough to terrify the Ferelden human population.

She stood, wiping her blade on a tuft of grass. Some ways behind her, she could hear her companions dispatching the rest of the darkspawn patrol they had happened upon. She'd moved away from them as she chased down the hurlock trying to raise the alarm to the rest of the darkspawn force, but they had Alistair with them, after all, and he was a far more experienced Warden than she.

Lena turned back to the road, searching the gathering dark for her companions. Leliana approached first with another arrow already nocked, and she heard jingling metal and Alistair and Morrigan followed her. Alistair's blade was black with darkspawn blood.

"Do you think they heard us?" Alistair gestured up at the houses on the hill.

"I don't think so." She leaned on her sword, catching her breath. Seventeen humans, forty-one wolves, four giant spiders and now ninety-two darkspawn. Or maybe ninety-three, she'd lost count somewhere in the Tower of Ishal. "Everyone ready?" She got a series of tight nods and led the three of them back up the hill to the road.

There was a great fire in the centre of the hamlet and Lena's stomach turned at the smell of roasting meat and the iron tang of blood on the air. The spaces between the houses had been fortified with stakes driven into the ground and there were more corpses driven onto them. She could see several hurlocks around the fire and a half-built ballista pointed down the road, but not much else. It was possible most of the darkspawn were out patrolling, like the group they'd just dispatched, but it was hard to be sure.

Lena dropped into a crouch in the shadows by the road, signalling to the others to join her. 

"How do you intend to do this?" Morrigan whispered.

Lena had hunted every beast in the Brecilian Forest, she could mask a trail or raid a hostile human camp as well as any in her clan, but this kind of thing wasn't what she knew. Darkspawn didn't fight like anything she'd ever seen. They were more vicious than a bear defending its territory and crueller than most humans. Maybe there was a proper way to deal with them, something Duncan had intended to tell her, but he'd never gotten around to it.

"Good question. Alistair, how do Wardens normally do this?"

He looked at her blankly. "Uh… kill the darkspawn?"

Morrigan scoffed. "Wonderful. Such professionalism."

Lena sighed. Even on raids with her clan, she'd never been the leader. She was a warrior, not a soldier. "Ok. Well," she paused, gathered her thoughts, "um. Leliana, you hang back, pick off the darkspawn if they try to flee, and keep an eye out if any more show up. Alistair's with me. Morrigan, you use your… bewitching powers."

She heard Morrigan scoff again at that, but she ignored it. Lena stood tall and moved forward into the circle of light. The hurlocks hadn't seen her yet and she rushed the camp, her feet light on the soft grass. Behind her, she heard Alistair break into a run as well, his splintmail armour clanking.

Leliana's arrows sang past her as she rushed into the camp and the first hurlock to stand died with an arrow in its throat. Lena rushed his companion and leapt up, crashing her blade into its chain coif. The metal shattered under her blow and she felt the creature's skull break.

Lena stepped back. For half a moment the rest of the darkspawn did nothing, dumbfounded. Then one shrieked a warcry and she stepped back as a massive hurlock in plate armour swung a two-handed maul at her. The beast kept coming, the wicked black iron head of the weapon swinging in massive figure-eight arcs at her and she scrambled back, desperately keeping out of reach of darkspawn's massive blows. She couldn't try to catch the weapon with her shield, sure that the ironwood would simply shatter. Four more hurlocks moved to encircle her as she danced back around the firepit.

Then there was a clatter of metal and a sickening _crunch_ as Alistair smashed into the hurlock, his iron shield catching the beast in the chest and shoving it off balance. Lena used the moment to turn and swing viciously at a hurlock behind her, catching it in the gap between its helm and gorget. The hurlock fell, gurgling, and she saw another die as Morrigan rammed a shard of ice into its eye socket.

Lena snapped her shield up and a crossbow bolt thudded into the thick wood. The great darkspawn was focussed on Alistair now, and for the moment he seemed to be holding his own. He kept his sword low, thrusting at the darkspawn as it brought back the maul to try to strike him and stopping it from bringing the massive weight and leverage of its long weapon to bear on him. She turned to the darkspawn with the crossbow and rushed it as it leant to reload, jabbing her sword deep into the monster's chest.

She was a little out of the circle of firelight now in the shadows by the barn. She felt the taint in her blood singing and she focussed, ignoring the sounds of the battle behind her. There was the rapid pattering of feet, almost inaudible on the soft grass. Lena pulled her blade free, jabbing her shield at a shriek as it leapt at her from the dark treeline. The beast twisted in mid-air to avoid her return thrust, held at bay for the moment by her long sword. It moved back, pacing around the shadows, looking for an opening.

She waited.  Her sword, in the curved Dalish style, was longer than the beast's claws, but she'd seen a soldier at Ostagar run a shriek through and still get himself ripped apart before it had died. She had to maintain the distance, use the shield to make space, and- there!

The darkspawn leapt on her and Lena pirouetted, catching one clawed fist with her shield, then jabbing forward with the tip of her sword. The shriek yowled in pain as her point of her blade entered between its ribs but it didn't stop. Lena saw skin and muscle tear as the shriek batted her blade aside and stepped in close, gnashing teeth reaching for her throat.

Lena jabbed her shield back, knocking the darkspawn off balance, then followed up with a series of rapid bashes into the beast's fanged mouth. The shriek wailed in pain and she felt several of its curved fangs shatter under the force of her ironbark shield. She stepped back, made space, then slammed her blade down onto the shriek's skull.

She felt the thick bone crack and pulled her sword free, turning back to the fire. She saw the great hurlock stumble back as Alistair bashed his shield at it, saw another collapse as three arrows slammed into its chest. They were going to win.

And then it all went to shit. Alistair spun and swung his sword at the great hurlock in a mighty deathblow, just as Morrigan unleashed a gale of frost from her staff. Even at a distance, Lena saw Alistair's face go blue with cold as the magical ice froze him in place. Morrigan stepped back, surprised, and one of Leliana's arrows slammed into the head of her staff. Lena heard Morrigan curse as the ash length leapt out of her hand.

Lena swore. She stood hurriedly and rushed back into the campsite, shoving the hurlock aside as it attempted to kill Alistair. She brought her blade around in a wide sweeping strike as the hurlock stumbled and the steel bit deep into the beast's breastplate.

She attempted to pull her blade free, but it was stuck. She looked up at the darkspawn. For a moment, its misshapen, scarred head didn't seem to understand what had happened. Then it let out another ululating shriek, foul spittle flecking her face, and brought its closed fist around in a brutal uppercut into her chest.

Lena gasped in pain and staggered back, releasing her sword. At least one rib was broken, she realised, probably more. They'd killed at least seven darkspawn, but there were still another four in the camp, including the massive one with the maul. She saw Morrigan kill one with shards of ice from her fingers, but even as she watched another darkspawn cuffed her across the face with its plate vambrace and she saw her fall. Another hurlock had produced a crossbow and Lena saw Leliana drop to the ground as a bolt snapped on the cobbles beside her.

The darkspawn shrieked again and slammed the haft of the maul down on the blade lodged in its chestplate. Her sword snapped and shards of metal flew ringing into the darkness. The hurlock turned back to her, but it was wounded now and it shrieked in pain as it attempted an overhead strike at her. Lena leant back and threw her shield up, her ribs sending stabbing pains through her chest as the ugly iron arced towards her.

There wasn't much strength behind the hurlock's strike, but that mattered little. The heavy iron head of the maul and the leverage of the long shaft generated shocking momentum and part of Lena's shield snapped off and flew into the darkness. She was forced to one knee, gasping in pain again, but the shield deflected the blow and the head of the maul slammed into the mud beside her.

Lena tried to rise, scrabbling at her belt for her dar'misu. The darkspawn struggled to raise its weapon, but it was firmly lodged in the mud and it lacked the strength to bring it back up again. Lena leapt onto it, discarding her mangled shield and driving the dagger into the hurlock's throat.

Spittle and blood flecked her face as the beast died. She pulled herself to her feet, scanning the battlefield. There were only two darkspawn left now. One was crouched against a cart, waiting for Leliana to reveal herself, while the other crept through the shadows by the road towards her. Lena aimed a kick at the alpha's twitching corpse, took her dar'misu from its throat and half-limped, half-hopped over towards the last of the darkspawn.

It must have heard its leader die, but it didn't seem to care. It heard her approach and turned and Lena tensed, wishing she still had her shield. The darkspawn was ten paces away, and she doubted she could rush it down before it fired. She shifted the grip on her dar'misu, the bone hilt slick with black blood.

For a moment, they were both still, waiting for the other to move. Then the darkspawn shrieked and brought the crossbow and Lena flipped her dagger and threw it into the darkspawn's throat.

The crossbow string twanged as the weapon fell from the darkspawn's fingers, the metal bolt skating across the cobbled road. Lena twitched at the sound, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She heard Leliana's bow sing again and the last darkspawn fell, three arrows in its chest.

Lena hobbled over and took her dagger back from the darkspawn's corpse, then made her way back to the firepit. Her ribs still pained her with every step, but she was fairly sure she'd live.

Leliana came in from the road, her bow in one hand and a knife in the other. There was a red streak of blood along her arm, but otherwise she seemed unscathed.

"Did they hit you, Mahariel?" Leliana asked.

Lena waved her hand at her. "I'll be fine. Go help Morrigan up. She took a nasty hit."

She turned back to the fire, limping over to Alistair. He was beginning to thaw now, the heat of the fire steaming away Morrigan's magical ice. He looked rather heroic, she thought idly, frozen in place with his shield held high and his blade brought back for a mighty blow. She reached up and brushed his cheek with her hand. His skin was icy cold.

That didn't do much so she slapped him, quite hard, across the face. The ice shattered at her blow and in a moment he was free, shivering and blinking. His blade was still in his hand, she saw, and she stepped in and put her hand over his to make sure he didn't mistake her for a darkspawn.

"Andraste's bloody _tits!_ What happened to the darkspawn?"

Lena shrugged. "We did. Are you all right?"

Alistair nodded. "I'll live. I think I'd like to murder Morrigan, though."

Lena released his hand and cleared her throat. "I think you might have saved my life back there. So, uh, thanks for that, Alistair."

He grinned wanly at her. "Same to you. Excellent darkspawn-killing."

She heard Morrigan clear her throat and she realised they were still standing rather close together. She stepped back quickly and swore as her ribs twinged with pain.

Leliana had tied a poultice around Morrigan's forehead and she was nastily pale, but she was standing, which was a relief. She had found her staff, with Leliana's arrow still embedded near the top, which reminded Lena of her own weapon. She scanned the dirt by the fire, saw the wood hilt half-buried in a tussock of grass.

Lena hissed in pain as she made her way over to the tussock and pulled her sword free. The blade was shattered a few inches above the hilt.

Alistair heard her. "Are you all right, Lena?"

She sighed. "I need a new sword. And a new shield. And probably new ribs." She turned back to them. All of them, she saw, were exhausted and dejected. She needed to say something, she realised. Something that would convince them that, even though they could barely handle a squad of six darkspawn, they still had a hope against the Archdemon and its horde. The sort of thing Duncan could have said.

Her eye lit on one of the darkspawn lying in the firelight. The beast had a thick gold torc on its wrist, probably taken from the corpse of some rich Ferelden knight. She knelt and pulled it off, wiping the blood off with her sleeve. It had to be worth at least six sovereigns, she thought.

She held it up in the firelight, staying a little hunched over to avoid stretching her ribs. "Dinner's on the darkspawn tonight, Wardens."

Close enough, she thought.


End file.
